For several weeks you have reported the killings by Israeli forces in Gaza. Each week Israel has placed troops on the security border with Gaza with the intention to shoot to kill Palestinians demonstrating. So far 35 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,500 injured with live ammunition. Instructions to shoot to kill were given in advance (Deaths in Gaza will haunt Israeli snipers, Letters, 13 April; Letters, 17 April).

It is right for the British government to comment on hostile actions by foreign states in breach of international law wherever they occur – on UK territory, in Syria or in Yemen. But the silence of the prime minister and the foreign secretary on Israel’s premeditated killings is deafening. Moreover, the UK government continues to approve arms exports to Israel despite its own guidelines prohibiting any sales of weapons that risk being used in violation of international law.